Sectional overhead doors are commonly used for the closing the opening of a building, such as a garage, a warehouse, a store, or other similar buildings. Conventional sectional overhead doors are constructed from a series of sectional door panels which are pivotally coupled together along parallel longitudinal edges of the door panels to form an articulating unit. A series of rollers extend from each lateral edge of the door panels. The overhead door assembly further includes a track assembly having substantially vertical track sections adjacent opposite sides of the opening of the building, and substantially horizontal track sections extending above an upper portion of the vertical track sections. Arcuate transition track sections span between the vertical and horizontal track sections to provide a continuous length of track on opposite sides of the opening. The door is mounted in the track assembly such that the rollers are captured by the track sections, whereby the door may be moved between a generally vertical, closed position covering the opening of the building to a generally horizontal, open position exposing the opening of the building. The vertical track sections are generally attached by brackets to a wall jamb which surrounds the opening in the building. The horizontal track sections may be suspended by brackets attached to a ceiling above the horizontal track sections. The vertical track sections are generally inclined in a direction which increases the spacing between the vertical track section and the wall jamb toward an upper portion of the vertical track section, to facilitate engagement of the door with the wall jamb when the door is moved from an open position to a closed position.
In many conventional sectional overhead door assemblies, a space, or gap, exists between the wall jamb and the vertical track section, creating a potential area where objects, including the hands and limbs of a person near the overhead door, may be pinched between the door and the wall jamb as the door moves from an open position to a closed position. This may occur if an object falls into the space between the vertical track section and the wall jamb, or if a person extends a limb into that space.
There is thus a need for an improved sectional overhead door assembly which prevents objects or limbs from being inserted into the space between the vertical track section and the wall jamb.